The Making of a Highlander

by Elisa Braden

  “We are absurdly fertile,” said Annabelle. “One of Papa’s cousins fathered eight children with his first wife and twelve with his second.”

  “To be fair,” said Jane, “four of the twenty were twins.”

  “T-twins?”

  “We haven’t even mentioned Uncle Alfred.”

  Annie clutched her stomach. “Oh, God. How many? Ten?”

  They all cast her sympathetic glances.

  “Twelve?”

  “Fourteen, at last count,” answered Eugenia. “Aunt Phillis looked positively spent last time we saw her. Perhaps after this babe is born, she’ll finally put her foot down.”

  Meredith sniffed. “I’ve told her how to gain a respite. She simply refuses.”

  Annie frowned as they all nodded. “How?”

  “Feed them from your own breasts, dearest,” Annabelle clarified. “Staves off conception for a time.”

  “How else would I feed a bairn?”

  “A wet nurse,” said Jane. “Many ladies have them. Mama refused. As have we.”

  “Sweet Christ and all his unicorns,” Annie murmured. “Ye mean to say yer broods are the smaller ones amongst the Huxley clan?”

  Maureen’s smile was probably intended to be reassuring. “Well, yes. Also, we are Huxley females, not males, so … that helps, too.”

  Male Huxleys were more fertile? Oh, God.

  Kate, who’d been listening with an occasional eye-roll, announced, “Well, I may be a Huxley, but that does not mean I am doomed to birth an army. And neither is Annie.”

  Meredith patted her youngest daughter’s arm. “Of course not, dear.”

  “I intend to be the exception. One or two children is more than sufficient. Isn’t that so, Annie?”

  Annie glanced at Meredith, hesitant to support a notion Kate’s mother did not appear to appreciate.

  “Or even none at all,” the young woman continued blithely.

  Eugenia snorted. “What sort of eunuch are you planning to wed, Kate?”

  “Perhaps I’m not planning to wed anyone.”

  “Don’t be silly, dear. Of course you will,” answered her mother. “You simply haven’t found the right match yet.”

  “Because he doesn’t exist, Mama. Besides, I’m going to become a playwright.”

  Another snort from Eugenia.

  “Or perhaps a novelist.”

  This time, the snort came from Jane.

  “Scoff if you like, Jane. But your favorite author is a lady.”

  “My favorite author is extraordinarily rare. Which is why she’s my favorite.”

  Meredith intervened with a motherly tone. “Kate, there is no reason why you may not be both an author and a wife. Look at Annie.”

  Everyone did, and Annie wondered if she had flour on her face.

  “Annie has many of her own interests, including cookery and embroidery.”

  Annie shrank a bit as she recalled the kitten pillow cover she’d embroidered for Meredith. The woman had hugged her for a good five minutes straight.

  Meredith continued, “Yet, she has already begun her own family. An early start is best. One has more energy when one is young.”

  The Huxley women kept chattering on, but all Annie could think about was fourteen wee bairns who all looked like her Englishman. Grinned like her Englishman. Charmed and laughed like her Englishman.

  Her hand settled upon her belly. Suddenly, even twenty seemed a paltry number.

  As though she’d summoned him with her thoughts, he entered the kitchen looking so handsome, she wanted to leap upon him and demand he take her.

  “Mama, I do hope you aren’t frightening my bride with tales of Huxley eccentricity,” he said with a twinkle.

  His mother went immediately to embrace her son. She kissed his cheek and patted his shoulders. “No, my sweet boy. Merely tales of Huxley fecundity.”

  His eyebrows shot up. He glanced toward Annie. Then, his expression turned sheepish. “Did they mention Uncle Alfred?”

  “And Aunt Phillis. Aye.”

  “Look, love. I know fourteen seems like a dreadfully large number.”

  “It is a large number, English. Very, very large.”

  “But nothing says we must have so many.”

  “Yer father’s brother did.”

  “Well, yes.”

  “And yer father’s cousin did.”

  “Right.” He blew out a breath. “Twenty. That is rather a lot.”

  She crossed her arms and gave him a narrow look. “Ye’re teasin’ me.”

  A grin he’d evidently been disguising broke open. Hazel eyes danced as he laughed. “I promise you, it’s all true. Uncle Alfred. Cousin George. Every word.”

  “Aye, but ye’re pleased about it.”

  As he came to stand with her, those eyes flared again, this time with less amusement and more ardent longing. “I’m pleased you are my wife. I’m pleased our babes, whatever their number, will have you as their mother.”

  Six Huxley women all sighed in unison. Annie sighed with them. She supposed she was a Huxley woman, too.

  She grinned up at her husband, who’d correctly predicted that his family would adore her, and she would adore them, and everything would be fine. Who’d chosen a Scottish hoyden above all the ladies he might have had to mother his brood. Who’d loved her and would continue to love her with everything he had.

  “And I’m pleased ye’re mine, John Huxley. Nothin’ in a thousand lifetimes could please me more.”

  TlU

  Ready for more?

  Watch for the next book in the

  Midnight in Scotland series

  COMING SOON!

  Midnight in Scotland: Book Two

  The Taming of a Highlander

  by

  Elisa Braden

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  Midnight in Scotland Series

  In the enchanting new Midnight in Scotland series, the unlikeliest matches generate the greatest heat. All it takes is a spark of Highland magic.

  The Making of a Highlander (Book One)

  Handsome adventurer John Huxley is locked in a land dispute in the Scottish Highlands with one way out: Win the Highland Games. When the local hoyden Mad Annie Tulloch offers to train him in exchange for “Lady Lessons,” he agrees. But teaching the fiery, foul-mouthed, breeches-wearing lass how to land a lord seems impossible—especially when he starts dreaming of winning her for himself.

  Rescued from Ruin Series

  Discover the scandalous predicaments, emotional redemptions, and gripping love stories (with a dash of Lady Wallingham) in the scorching series that started it all!

  Ever Yours, Annabelle (Prequel)

  As a girl, Annabelle Huxley chased Robert Conrad with reckless abandon, and he always rescued her when she pushed too far—until the accident that cost him everything. Seven years later, Robert discovers the girl with the habit of chasing trouble is now a siren he can’t resist. But when a scandalous secret threatens her life, how far will he go to rescue her one last time?

  The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne (Book One)

  Victoria Lacey’s life is perfect—perfectly boring. Agree to marry a lord who has yet to inspire a single, solitary tingle? It’s all in a day’s work for the oh-so-proper sister of the Duke of Blackmore. Surely no one suspects her secret longing for head-spinning passion. Except a dark stranger, on a terrace, at a ball where she should not be kissing a man she has just met. Especially one bent on revenge.

  The Truth About Cads and Dukes (Book Two)

  Painfully shy Jane Huxley is in a most precarious position, thanks to dissolute charmer Colin Lacey’s deceitful wager. Now, his brother, the icy Duke of Blackmore, must m
ake it right, even if it means marrying her himself. Will their union end in frostbite? Perhaps. But after lingering glances and devastating kisses, Jane begins to suspect the truth: Her duke may not be as cold as he appears.

  Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel (Book Three)

  Where Lord Colin Lacey goes, trouble follows. Tortured and hunted by a brutal criminal, he is rescued from death’s door by the stubborn, fetching Sarah Battersby. In return, she asks one small favor: Pretend to be her fiancé. Temporarily, of course. With danger nipping his heels, he knows it is wrong to want her, wrong to agree to her terms. But when has Colin Lacey ever done the sensible thing?

  The Devil Is a Marquess (Book Four)

  A walking scandal surviving on wits, whisky, and wicked skills in the bedchamber, Benedict Chatham must marry a fortune or risk ruin. Tall, redheaded disaster Charlotte Lancaster possesses such a fortune. The price? One year of fidelity and sobriety. Forced to end his libertine ways, Chatham proves he is more than the scandalous charmer she married, but will it be enough to keep his unwanted wife?

  When a Girl Loves an Earl (Book Five)

  Miss Viola Darling always gets what she wants, and what she wants most is to marry Lord Tannenbrook. James knows how determined the tiny beauty can be—she mangled his cravat at a perfectly respectable dinner before he escaped. But he has no desire to marry, less desire to be pursued, and will certainly not kiss her kissable lips until they are both breathless, no matter how tempted he may be.

  Twelve Nights as His Mistress (Novella – Book Six)

  Charles Bainbridge, Lord Wallingham, spent two years wooing Julia Willoughby, yet she insists they are a dreadful match destined for misery. Now, rather than lose her, he makes a final offer: Spend twelve nights in his bed, and if she can deny they are perfect for each other, he will let her go. But not before tempting tidy, sensible Julia to trade predictability for the sweet chaos of true love.

  Confessions of a Dangerous Lord (Book Seven)

  Known for flashy waistcoats and rapier wit, Henry Thorpe, the Earl of Dunston, is deadlier than he appears. For years, his sole focus has been hunting a ruthless killer through London’s dark underworld. Then Maureen Huxley came along. To keep her safe, he must keep her at arm’s length. But as she contemplates marrying another man, Henry’s caught in the crossfire between his mission and his heart.

  Anything but a Gentleman (Book Eight)

  Augusta Widmore must force her sister’s ne’er-do-well betrothed to the altar, or her sister will bear the consequences. She needs leverage only one man can provide—Sebastian Reaver. When she invades his office demanding a fortune in markers, he exacts a price a spinster will never pay—become the notorious club owner’s mistress. And when she calls his bluff, a fiery battle for surrender begins.

  A Marriage Made in Scandal (Book Nine)

  As the most feared lord in London, the Earl of Holstoke is having a devil of a time landing a wife. When a series of vicious murders brings suspicion to his door, only one woman is bold enough to defend him—Eugenia Huxley. Her offer to be his alibi risks scandal, and marriage is the remedy. But as a poisonous enemy coils closer, Holstoke finds his love for her might be the greatest danger of all.

  A Kiss from a Rogue (Book Ten)

  A cruel past left Hannah Gray with one simple longing—a normal life with a safe, normal husband. Finding one would be easy if she weren't distracted by wolf-in-rogue’s-clothing Jonas Hawthorn. He's tried to forget the haughty Miss Gray. But once he tastes the heat and longing hidden beneath her icy mask, the only mystery this Bow Street man burns to solve is how a rogue might make Hannah his own.

  About the Author

  Reading romance novels came easily to Elisa Braden. Writing them? That took a little longer. After graduating with degrees in creative writing and history, Elisa spent too many years in “real” jobs writing T-shirt copy … and other people’s resumes … and articles about giftware displays. But that was before she woke up and started dreaming about the very unreal job of being a romance novelist. Better late than never.

  Elisa lives in the Pacific Northwest, where you’re constitutionally required to like the colors green and gray. Good thing she does. Other items on the “like” list include cute dogs, strong coffee, and epic movies. Of course, her favorite thing of all is hearing from readers who love her characters as much as she does.

  If you’re one of those, get in touch on Facebook or visit www.elisabraden.com.